Kevin Smith trying to bring back Buckaroo Banzai for a new TV series

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Super-geek producer/director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats) is bent on bringing back the quirky '80s classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension as a new TV series. The original 1984 film was a bizarre mashup of genres featuring RoboCop's Peter Weller as a charismatic rock-star-neurosurgeon-test-pilot and his rowdy band of musician adventurers, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, battling interdimensional baddies led by John Lithgow's Lord Whorfin, insane leader of the evil Red Lectroids. Directed by W.D. Richter, the screenwriter of Big Trouble In Little China, Needful Things and the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, it was a wacky cinematic romp with catchy tunes and a comic book sensibility perfect for the times.

Kevin Smith calls the kooky-cool film a major inspiration for his more absurdist material, and in a recent podcast of his Hollywood Babble-On, the hockey-jersey-wearing fanboy explained how MGM approached him with an offer to reboot Buckaroo Banzai for television.

"MGM said, 'Hey, we heard you like Buckaroo Banzai...we took Fargo and turned it into a TV show and it's won awards, and we have another property we want to do that with, and we're wondering if [you're] interested.' So I went in and met with those cats, and we talked about 'What would you do to turn it into a series?' That's what we want to turn it into. I was like, 'Oh my Lord, well I've loved this movie for forever. If you're going to do that, basically you just do the entire movie for season one, and then season two you finally do the sequel we've all dreamed about, Buckaroo Banzai vs. The World Crime League...in the next month, we take it out and try to find a home for it."

Buckaroo Banzai is one of the odd gifts bestowed upon us by the gods of the '80s, and I think it could be a perfect vehicle for Kevin Smith's peculiar sensibilities and foul, offbeat humor as an episodic TV series. Would you tune in to a new show starring Buckaroo and his posse of rock-and-roll crusaders?